“The One Thing” by Gary Keller has been a life-changing book for me. Right now I’m in a season of essentialism, pruning my commitments so that I can do less but better. In the book Keller outlines an incredibly powerful process called Goal Set To Now. 

Essentially, it’s reverse-engineering your wildest dreams into a daily focused priority so that your actions can be as potent as possible. The process works as follows:

First, you set your “Someday Goal”. This is representative of what you want to accomplish at some point in your life. Since there’s no time-bound connection to it, you’re meant to dream as wildly as you can imagine.

Then from there, with that ‘Someday Goal’ in mind, you determine a ‘5 Year Goal’ that is on the path to achieving your ‘Someday Goal’. You continue to ladder down over and over again from a 5 Year Goal, to a 1 Year Goal, to your 1 Month Goal, to your 1 Week Goal, to your ‘Goal For Today’ so that you can determine the one thing you need to do first or next to achieve it.

The power in this exercise is it helps you connect your wildest dreams to the present moment. When you see your goals with this perspective it creates a huge wave of purpose, conviction, and motivation to follow through on your daily tasks. 

But this isn’t something you’re meant to do just once and it’s done. It’s an ongoing, moment by moment, day to day process that helps you to make sure that your compass is pointed directly toward your biggest goals. It provides clarity on what’s most important right now so that you don’t get caught up in the distractions and impulses that steer you off course.

I walked members of the Best Life Community, a community group of high-achievers dedicated to being the best version of themselves, through this exercise and the feedback was phenomenal. If you’re interested to go through this 26 minute process yourself, I’d like to make the replay of that session available to you as well. All you have to do is click here, provide your email, and you’ll get access to it right away! Plus, I tell you my ridiculous ‘Someday Goal’ that fires me up!

If you want your life to change, you need to take action! Your next step is ahead of you, so take advantage of that right now before you forget and miss out. This is probably the only time I’m mentioning it.

This is something I really want to call out because so many people, myself included, are missing it. We live in such a results driven, accomplishment based, achievement oriented society. Any time we get somewhere the first question becomes “What’s next?”. And while that’s not the wrong response, many people don’t stop to appreciate where they’re at before continuing to push on.

For that reason, today’s positivity quote is “Savor the taste of satisfaction.”

When you savor a taste, it means that you really take the time to enjoy it and recognize it. You choose to be present with the experience, noticing the different tones, textures, and flavors in the bite. Slowing down to savor and enjoy something means that it’s meaningful and valuable to you.

The definition of satisfaction is “the fulfillment of one's wishes, expectations, or needs, or the pleasure derived from this.” However, oftentimes people mix up ‘satisfaction’ with ‘having enough’. Satisfaction is the more positive expression of ‘having enough’, suggesting that you’re experiencing sufficiency and that your needs are genuinely being met. The other expression of ‘having enough’ is about tolerating minimum requirements, and that you’d really like more but what you have is “good for now”.

So that’s the space to explore here: How do we pause to savor and immerse ourselves in the experience of being genuinely happy with where we’re at right now?

I firmly believe that the best way to do that is to celebrate your wins. Instead of glossing over the great things that are happening and refocusing on what’s next, take a moment to celebrate it. If you wait to celebrate at the very end, you’re never going to get to the very end. It’ll always be pushed further no matter how successful you are. So it’s essential that we enjoy the journey rather than wait to arrive at the destination.

My fiance is great about this. Any time I mention something positive that happened, she puts on one of my favorite songs, “Joy” by Andy Grammer, and dances with me to it. She helps me to slow down in moments I would have zoomed right past to enjoy the wins and savor the moment.

But as for you, what can you do to slow down and add more joy to milestone moments of accomplishment? Decide one thing you want to try now so that you can use it later!

As part of the positive psychology movement, there has been some consensus around what it takes to have hope in your life. The reason hope is important is because it recognizes that things will not forever be how they are today. It’s a practical belief that things can and will get better, which alleviates some of the strain and suffering of your present experience.

Per Rick Snyder, a pioneer in the space, there are three ingredients to having hope: An exciting future, a way to achieve it, and a sense that you can do it. And in order to explain this, let’s use the story of being stuck on an island.

The first ingredient is an exciting future. When you have something you’re looking forward to, that you believe in, it helps to contextualize your reality. This is the most presumed element of ‘hope’ because if all you could see for your future is darkness and despair, then what is there to be hopeful about? 

In the 'stuck on an island' analogy, this is seeing the mainland on the horizon, a place where your problem of being stuck is solved.

The second ingredient is a way to achieve it. This corresponds with seeing the realistic steps you need to take to connect to that exciting future. The term commonly used to describe this is ‘pathways’, or the different creative ways you could solve the problem and connect your current reality to your future state.

In the 'stuck on an island' analogy, this is assessing your options to reach that new island. Can you swim there? Is there a ferry that goes every 2 hours? Can you be swung between two trees and catapulted? These are all pathways.

Then last, you need to believe that you can do it. You can have an exciting future, and a few plans about how to connect with it, but if you don't think you’re capable of following through on the plans, you won’t be hopeful that things will change. This leans on having the self-efficacy and agency you need to actually succeed with the plan.

In the 'stuck on an island' analogy, can you swim that far? Can you find the ferry dock and afford the trip? Do you know someone who can help you set up a catapult strong enough to fling you across the water?

If you’re currently feeling hopeless, frustrated, and stuck on an island yourself, I want you to read to this closely.

1) I can help you see a better future for yourself, one where you bring enthusiasm, excitement, and intentionality to every moment of your day.

2) I can help with the pathway - I host a 21 day bootcamp that gives you the daily structure you need to be more productive and consistent in your health habits than you’ve ever been.

3) I can help you follow through on it - No matter how many times you’ve disappointed yourself, this process will be unlike anything you’ve ever tried and is designed to bring lasting positive change to your life. 

If that’s something you think would put you on the path to enjoying life more and feeling like you’re making the most of it, check out the Super Habits System and we can get started!

I talk a lot about the power of our subconscious beliefs and to set the stage for a really eye-opening example of it, let me quickly summarize.

Our beliefs are the unconscious patterns we use to live our lives. We are faced with thousands of micro-moments throughout the day where we are tasked to figure out what we think, how to feel, and how to act. If we had to make a decision on every single thing we encountered every single time, it’d be incredibly inefficient and frankly, impossible.

So what happens is our subconscious mind uses our beliefs - which is an implicit understanding of the way we’ve come to understand the world through past experiences. This is responsible for creating the default lens we see the world through. 

With that in mind, let me tell you about my experience at the grocery store.

I was in a hurry after a workout, wanting to run a quick errand before showering and getting to my first meeting of the day. I have chosen grapes to be my snack of choice because they’re relatively healthy, consumable in smaller portions, and taste good.

I picked up some grapes and as I was checking out at the register, realized that I’d made a decision that I didn’t think about. There were 2 or 3 different brands I could’ve chosen, but I chose the one that I chose last time, and I paused to reflect on why.

I don’t see much of a difference between brands other than price, and I realized that the last time I was in the store I checked the prices and the brand I chose was the cheapest.

Now this is where it all comes together…

A past experience suggested that one of the brands of grapes was less expensive than the others. Given the previous conclusions I’d had (that the grapes are equal other than price, and that this price was the cheapest), I made a decision without even thinking about it. My unconscious mind made the decision for me in a hurried moment!

Taking it one step further, if I were to really diagnose that unconscious choice, what does that say about me?

Here are a few ideas: I didn’t look to see which were organic or not, so I don’t necessarily have a belief that I should eat organic. I didn’t take into consideration the packaging and which option produces less waste, and I’d like to be a more conscious consumer.

In an unconscious moment my main deciding criteria, which was price, is what led the choice. And that was price. 

I bring this up not because we need to put this level of intention into everything we do (although I’d really like to), but to open your mind to how everyday choices are being influenced by unconscious patterns. This is why your environment is perfectly designed to match your beliefs - because the beliefs influenced the majority of the choices you made in creating the environment. 

Have you ever been stalled in a decision, wanting to move forward but you don’t know exactly what to do or can’t bring yourself to doing it? It could be in launching a business, finalizing a purchase, sharing an idea, or anything else?

Within that hesitation is a very human element that’s holding us back. At the end of the day, we really don’t want to make a mistake. In my mind this all ties into social dynamics. If we make a mistake and others learn about it, then it makes us “look stupid” and we’re thought to be perceived as less capable or less valuable. We fear this will lead to more social isolation as people take us less seriously, offer less support, and invest in us less.

The negative loop I just took you down is an evolutionary cycle that is in place to promote our safety and security. The avoidance of such social rejection is hard-wired into our genes and comes out in everyday situations.

Bu in today’s world this has some unintended consequences. If you don’t make a decision because you’re afraid to make a mistake, then someone or something else will make the decision for you. And this decision is often the less threatening, less demanding, comfortable decision that keeps us right where we’re at.

For example, you want to start a new healthier diet, but what if it’s not the right one? And a friend who is more knowledgeable corrects your misunderstandings and discredits all of the research you’ve done, making you look stupid. So to avoid that you don’t commit to it in the first place.

Or starting a business. What if you make the wrong decision and fail because of it, wasting a lot of time and money?

It’s a real concern, but let me add an alternative perspective. If you want to fulfill your potential and live out the wild ambitions you have for your life, you’re going to need to take chances and risk being wrong. In fact the people who are the most successful often looked uninformed, undereducated, or like a failure at one point in their journey. If anything, making mistakes is evidence that you’re on the path toward success!

And furthermore, people respect your boldness. It’s your own perception that sees yourself as ‘a failure’ or ‘looking stupid’. Other people admire it and are proud of you for going for it, trying new things, and putting yourself out there. That’s how you’d relate with a friend who’s pursuing their goals, isn’t it?

Anyway, I share this all to highlight the very human fear of making a mistake and the evolutionary roots that drives it, but also shed light on the opportunity within it. So my recommendation to you is to generate some awareness right now and think about what you’re holding off on doing right now because you’re worried you might make a mistake. 

If you need help building that self-confidence and structure to guide your next steps, check this out!

I want to touch on something that a lot of people struggle with that is completely avoidable. If you relate with this at all, know that you’re not alone, and you’re just a small shift away from things being better. If you don’t relate with it, the perspective will be just as valuable.

Many ambitious, smart, motivated people fall short of who they know they can be on a daily basis. The demands of the day at work, in their personal life, and managing other responsibilities exhausts them. This causes people to just try to get through the day and they get nowhere near making the most of it. 

It also causes them to neglect important things that they want to do - like exercising, eating healthy, being more present with loved ones, reading and learning more - but for whatever reason they just can’t prioritize it or bring themselves to doing it.

This isn’t a reflection of anyone’s capabilities or character. It’s a design problem. If you’re living life beyond your current capacity it’s because the design of your life is pushing you beyond it.

Living through a cycle of being stretched beyond capacity puts you further in the hole, making it that much harder to climb out of. Sleep deprivation makes it harder to get things done throughout the day to go to sleep at a normal time. Not taking care of your health and fitness makes you more worn out after a workout. This becomes even more demanding when you take into account that this makes you start to fall behind on things, adding stress to your life that takes up additional energy you don’t have enough of.

The hardest part is, as the gap expands between where you currently are and where you want to be, you lose hope that you can get fully back on track and escape the disappointing cycle you’re in.

But again, this isn’t about you or suggest that there’s anything wrong with you. It’s a design issue. Right now the design of your life is making it too easy to neglect what’s important and get caught up in what’s non-essential.

So how do you change the design of your life? 

Well the first step is awareness. Understand the factors that are creating instability. You can achieve this by being more observant of your day and asking the right questions. 

Then, you need to create a new plan - one that can accommodate everything you want to do without having negative consequences. But knowing that you’ll fall short of perfection on your first attempt, once you try out the plan you need to get pointed feedback about the plan. Dissect the results that came from it so that you can improve your plan.

It’s an iterative process but you’ll be surprised to see how quickly you can learn and improve. And if you want to start feeling on fire, crush your daily habits, stop falling behind, and have the energy you need to be fully present at work and with your loved ones, you should check out the Super Habits System.

In just 21 days you kickstart momentum in your life, get more accomplished in a day than you ever did with a new task organizational system, and learn a process that will keep you at the top of your game no matter how chaotic life gets. More information about it here!

When you ask someone “what’s the most important thing in your life?”, their response is often the people they care about.  We as humans are social creatures, and we require positive social interactions and meaningful relationships to thrive. 

We don’t choose everyone that’s in our lives. Our parents, siblings and family are given to us at birth (and aligning our relationship with them so that it serves us is an entirely different conversation for another time). Today I want to talk about the people that are in our lives based on the choices we make.

When we choose where we work, we inherit the culture and team that we collaborate with. When we go to fitness classes or join hobby groups, we’re surrounded by other people who’ve decided to be a part of it as well. These are non-permanent tent poles in our lives that hold up our day to day environments.

Today I want you to take a moment to think about how the people in the settings are serving you. Do they inspire you, or add gossip and drama to your life? Do you enjoy time with them, or do you try to avoid them and co-exist alongside them?

If you want to be the very best version of yourself, you need to “surround yourself with people who lift you higher”.

There are two different approaches to this. The first is more radical. Change your environment! Get a new job, go to a new gym, and do different things that put you in different places. Especially if there’s an overwhelming toxicity in your life, the best thing you can do is bear the short-term uncertainty of change to find a new more empowering environment.

The second approach is more subtle. You can be more intentional with the way you integrate into your current environment. Find that person at work who you look up to and make an effort to grow closer to them. Ask the healthiest person in your fitness class out to lunch and witness their habits. 

When you spend more time with positive, established, inspiring people, their choices will be contagious and affect yours. You better believe that you’re not going to catch yourself making excuses to a fast-paced colleague who does it all, or order fries as a side at lunch when your workout partner is getting salad.

In the book “The Compound Effect” author Darren Hardy describes the way you relate with people as either limited associations or expanded associations. Choose to limit your exposure to people who drain you, or cause you to not be the person you want to be. This is creating a limited association. Then choose to make more time for the people who are a good influence on you, and invest more in them so that their influence supports you. This is an expanded association.

To wrap this up and make it tangible, let’s create some personal awareness. Who is one person that is in your life that you’d probably benefit from spending less time with them, and one person that you’d love to have more time and correspondence with?

If you feel like you’re leaving potential on the table and not achieving the levels of personal health, success, productivity, and contribution you’re capable of… And you know that more consistency and structure is your ticket to reaching your goals… Then this is for you! 

In 5 minutes a day for 21 days you can install the ⁠Super Habits System⁠ to become ridiculously consistent, take your daily output to elite levels, and live a life that other people have a hard time keeping up with!

This is a dense topic but stick with me, I think it’ll be really insightful for you. I was listening to a podcast episode between Ed Mylett and Dr. Benjamin Hardy, an organizational psychologist and prolific author, who introduced a new idea called “psychological flexibility”. 

Basically ‘psychological flexibility’ is all about having the ability to control the way your mind relates with different topics. When you’re psychologically flexible it means that you can choose the perspective you use to see a certain events and ultimately, shape it’s meaning.

For example: My friend Dominic Fusco is a high-level endurance athlete, regularly runs marathons, and in a training session he went into cardiac arrest. Fortunately he was saved from death but it has really impacted his lifestyle for these past two months since it happened, and will continue to affect him for a while.

Dom practiced psychological flexibility. The facts of the matter are that he had cardiac arrest. What he chose to believe about that is that he’s lucky to be alive, and that this is actually, genuinely a gift because he will never see life the same and can add a perspective to things that very few people at his age can do.

Alternatively, he could have chosen to be scared, confused, and frustrated about his body failing him. But he practiced psychological flexibility and has adopted the story that serves him.

But this concept goes an extra layer deeper, relating the events of the present and the past. We often think that you can’t change the past, and while it’s true that you can’t change the literal events of the past, in every given moment we are choosing the way we relate with it in the present. 

The etymology of the word ‘remember’ is “to bring to mind again”. This suggests that our experience of the past is a present activity. To put it another way, the lens of the current moment determines the meaning of the past.

So if something didn’t go according to plan - you made a mistake, things didn’t go well, you had a bad result - how do you want to relate with it? What would be the most positive way to choose to relate with it? Because that’s the gift of the present moment, and when you express psychological flexibility to see things differently than you used to, you change the energetic impact that past event has on you.

Practically, what does that mean? It’s an opportunity for you to change your belief and perspective. Pick a moment from the past that negatively impacts you and ask yourself “How might this be a great thing to have happened to me?” The response to it just might be the new empowering story you can tell about the event.

If you feel like you’re leaving potential on the table and not achieving the levels of personal health, success, productivity, and contribution you’re capable of… And you know that more consistency and structure is your ticket to reaching your goals… Then this is for you! 

In 5 minutes a day for 21 days you can install the ⁠Super Habits System⁠ to become ridiculously consistent, take your daily output to elite levels, and live a life that other people have a hard time keeping up with!